What if the exhaustion you're carrying isn’t about your daughter’s needs — but about the systems stacked against her? In this fiercely honest conversation, Jane sits down with Katie Koullas, founder of Yellow Ladybugs, to unpack the invisible weight neurodivergent mums carry while raising autistic and ADHD girls. From masking to missed diagnoses, perfectionism to protection — this episode doesn’t shy away from the real stuff. It validates the hell out of the lived experience of raising girls who internalise everything and explode only when no one’s watching.

Katie shares her experience as a mum, advocate, and changemaker, giving voice to the deep guilt, relentless fear, and raw love that shape this reality — and what she’s learned about lightening the emotional load without selling your soul in the process.

💡 What We Cover:
• Why the emotional load isn’t about your daughter — it’s about the world she’s navigating
• The heartbreak of watching your daughter mask to survive
• The reality of invisible struggles in schools, friendships, and diagnosis
• How society gaslights and minimises internalising neurodivergent girls
• How mums can reframe guilt, lean into radical acceptance, and still model strength
• What burnout looks like when you're carrying it all — and how to catch it before it knocks you out
• How we actually start changing the systems (hint: stop waiting for the neurotypicals)
• What Katie wishes every mum raising a neurodivergent daughter had access to

🔗 Resources & Links:

• Learn more about Yellow Ladybugs and register for the June conference: yellowladybugs.com.au
• Follow Katie and Yellow Ladybugs on Instagram 

Related episodes:

• When School Becomes the Trauma (S3E2) | Spotify | Apple Podcast
• Burnout Starts in the Classroom (S3E3) | Spotify | Apple Podcast
• RSD & Emotional Intensity (S2 Ep 81) | Spotify | Apple Podcast

🎧 Listen Now:
If you’ve ever felt like you’re parenting in secret, constantly translating your daughter’s needs to people who just don’t get it — this is the episode you didn’t know you needed. Tune in, share it with another mum carrying too much, and remind yourself you’re not failing — you’re unsupported.

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TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:
ADHD masking, autistic girls, neurodivergent parenting, emotional burnout, ADHD and guilt, internalisers, invisible needs in school, Yellow Ladybugs, neuroaffirming support, autism diagnosis, teenage girls and shutdowns, parent burnout, sensory overload, radical acceptance parenting, co-regulation exhaustion, ADHD shame, internalised ableism, school system failure, masking and meltdown, ADHD mum support, ADHD podcast Australia, Katie Koullas, neurodivergent self-advocacy, changing the system as a mum.

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